Corey Seager undergoes sports hernia surgery

The Rangers’ star shortstop Corey Seager had surgery Tuesday to repair a sports hernia, but there is still a chance he will be ready for Opening Day, general manager Chris Young announced. Seager had the procedure in Phoenix and will continue his rehabilitation in Arizona.

Seager suffered an injury at the end of last season and attempted to rest during the offseason, but ultimately decided to undergo surgery. He is expected to miss most of spring training, but Young said it is likely he will be ready for the start of the season.

“The original idea was that with rest, hopefully it would go down throughout the offseason, but over the winter it became clear there would be two options,” Young said. “One was to continue to manage it and hope it doesn’t get worse or just go ahead and deal with it for now. “And they, along with our medical staff, decided that the most prudent course of action would be to correct it now.”

Seager played through the injury throughout the postseason, and Young said it was manageable at the time. Obviously, this had no effect on the plate. He hit .318 with six home runs, six doubles and 12 RBI in 17 games, winning the World Series Most Valuable Player award and leading the Rangers to their first title.

The 29-year-old Seager is coming off a breakout year in which he hit .327/.390/.623 with 33 home runs, 42 doubles and 96 RBI in 119 games, finishing second in MVP voting. In the American League, Ohtani is behind only Shohei.

Young said he doesn’t think the injury will have much of an impact on Seager’s 2024 campaign, but he could see a slightly delayed start if he can’t prepare in time during spring training.

“The level of concern is very low,” Young said. “Looking at the surgeries, Corey’s work ethic, his commitment to rehab. He’s had surgery before and he’ll be back, and that’s our hope. We feel good about this operation, the recovery timeline and the ability to have it ready, hopefully by Opening Day, but I don’t want to make any concrete commitments on it.